Paisley Fields is Putting the Fringe and  Frills in Country Music

In a world where Lil Nas X is topping charts as a black, gay country icon and Orville Peck is sweeping the underground as a queer, country icon, it isn’t surprising that queer, country artists like Paisley Fields are finally getting their due. Of course, the phenomenon is nothing new in Colorado, home of Charlie’s and the Gay Rodeo, but I digress. Paisley Fields is an artist who wears his identity on his sleeve, literally. He’s not afraid to wear frills and fringe and be himself on stage, and his music carries the same fierce, carefree energy, already landing him a lot of attention in indie circles. We were lucky enough to chat with up-and-coming artist Paisley Fields about music projects, his time laying low during COVID-19, and his plans for the future. How did you first get into performing and playing country music? I grew up in the Midwest, and my first job in music was at church as a piano player. I’ve really been playing music ever since, and I played in some piano bars here in New York. I lived in Japan for a little bit; I had a tour there when I was living there and recorded an album. Music is what I’ve wanted to do my whole life. As far as country music, my first introduction to that was at this place called the Electric Park Ballroom, which is the name of our new album. That’s a place where I would go in Iowa when I was a kid with my family; we would go line dancing there, and that was my first introduction to country music. How did country music and getting into music go hand-in-hand with your coming out journey? I definitely think there’s a place for me in country music, but it took me a while to find it. I think I realized it when I was in Japan, like, it doesn’t matter what other people think. If this is music that I like, I can make a place for myself in it regardless of if they want me or not. And now there’s definitely a big movement of openly queer country singers, both mainstream and underground. Do you feel like finally, in 2020, the world is ready for queer country music? Even a few years ago, when I played in Nashville, the bartender there was like, ‘This is great; keep doing what you’re doing, but Nashville is just not ready yet.’ That was maybe, like, five years ago, and I feel like now that’s starting to change. I spent some time in Nashville this past year, and I’ve noticed a shift there. I think it’s time.

Related article: Gaytheist- Exploring Post-Apocalyptic Isolation Normalcy  How have you been impacted by COVID-19? Has it messed up any of your touring plans or anything else you had going on? It was crazy; we were supposed to fly to South by Southwest this year, and obviously that ended up getting canceled. I had just flown back from Italy, and then was scheduled to fly down to Nashville, and as I got there, South by Southwest was canceled. We were deciding what to do, since we had a whole tour scheduled around that. We decided to do the first few dates, and those got canceled too, so we ended up just canceling, and a three-week tour turned into a three-day tour. Then, I got back to New York and started thinking of ways to get things going, because we have this album coming out, and I can’t just sit on my hands, so I started doing some live streams. Now I’m in the middle of doing a virtual tour, a virtual takeover of my favorite venues on their Instagram and Facebook pages, and doing a livestream there. That’s nuts, but I’m glad you still have stuff going on. What are some of your more long-term plans? I’m still writing, but I’m in a really weird space right now because I feel like I can’t plan anything with the world changing every day, so I’m kind of adjusting and trying to come up with some future stuff that won’t be affected. COVID notwithstanding, what do you think country music is going to look like in 10 years? Apart from just queer country, I really want to see the genre be more welcoming and diverse in general. That may be kind of wishful thinking, but it’s what I’d like to see. To hear for yourself, visit thepaisleyfields.com.

Photo by Drew Botcerby